So last year I went from 269 to 235. That was a good year’s work. I have to say though that I am only just now getting back on the wagon. Today I weighed in at 234. I had to get to that place where I felt mentally ready again. I’ve always said it is not about motivation. If I had to wait for motivation I would never have started in the first place. It’s that mental state of “yep, it’s time”. And it is.

So. Here is my game plan.

1. Blog more often. You guys keep me SO motivated to continue. I love the comments and feedback and reading your blogs as well!

2. Go back to documenting my measurements monthly.

3. Pictures monthly.

4. Finally get off of sugar and white flour. More on that later

5. Work towards eating a plant based diet. (More on that later)

6. Eat more. Yep! You heard it right. I stopped losing weight when I got down to 1200 calories. I am now “resetting” my metabolism. I’m doing this before I start cutting again. Right now I’m at about 1700 calories per day.

For now it is enough for me to say that I took some pictures tonight and wow I still have so much work to do, it gets me down sometimes. But when I look at where I was one year ago I do feel very proud.

My goals this year:

1. PR on my 5K time. I can do that.

2. Focus more on body composition than body weight.

3. Finally get below 200 pounds.

And here you go…

I’ve lost some stomach definition that you can see in prior pix. I can fix that, and will.

I want to wear this shirt badly. I will.

This is a dress I haven’t been able to wear for 16 years. This is my uber goal.

Great question! I don’t think I will stop at 1700. What I am doing is increasing my calories 200 a week to see where I start gaining. I’m actually maintaining right now which tells me I can eat more. Yes!!

Might I suggest a BMR calculator : http://www.muscleandstrength.com/tools/bmr-and-daily-calorie-calculator.html this one will calculate your basal metabolic rate (calories needed to maintain proper body function) and calories needed depending on your activity level. From there you would substract 50 kcals per week, until you reach -500kcal total. Although they are not the most accurate, bmr calculators are a great guideline to follow for calorie intake needs.